While We Were Growing

hat are you doing now?" It was our Editor-in-Chief, calling on my cell.

"I am in the office", I answered, indirectly implying that I was

working. His next question was more direct. And there was less room for

maneuver: "I don't want to know where you are. Tell me if you have

completed that productivity report," he cracked again. I had not even

started working on it, leave alone finish it.

With the great jump in sales of notebook PCs, pen drives, PDAs, internet

connections, mobile phones, and what have you, the entire definition of office,

work, working hours is going to undergo a big change. I know so many software

companies who say they will be very happy if their engineers can work from home,

and join in for some kind of a teleconferencing or videoconferencing once in two

days. Today you can take your entire work, home. In fact, there are several

companies in the US where employees work from home, and if they have to work in

office, they have to book a workstation in advance. In fact, a leading MNC bank

that is getting software work done here in India, allows its engineers to work

out of their home.

IBRAHIM AHMAD Employees, specially in those organizations which are spending a lot on IT, will have to learn to work 24x7

While the enabler of this system of working is IT, the main driver is cost

cutting and productivity enhancement. Why should employees be wasting a lot of

time commuting from home to office-in India, this is as much as 3 to 3.5 hours

in many cases. I can bet that more and more people will start getting calls

similar to that I got from my boss, in days to come. I am afraid, growth of the

Indian IT industry is not just going to be about software exports and BPO deals.

It is also going to be about how organizations and employees redefine office and

work. And home.

While better productivity and higher efficiency will work to everybody's

advantage, the journey is not going to be very easy. While the software

companies want their employees to work from their homes, their level of trust on

their employees' work ethics, integrity and loyalty is not too high.

Therefore, along with all the notebooks, and pen drives, and wireless internet

cards that CEOs are ordering for their employees, they will also have to ensure

that more and more flexibility is brought into office work rules. Obviously,

Government of India and its IT-related policies, and cyber laws will play a

major role in smoothening this transition.

Therefore, the great growth in the domestic Indian market also means the

there will be even higher pressure on the employees, specially in those

organizations which are driving this growth, to learn to work 24x7, whether

office, airport or home. Office-home balance will become critical. At a recent

seminar the issue of 'accessibility of employees with PDAs and laptops at

unearthly hours and even at homes' came up as a sore point among all levels of

employees. Nobody wants to be disturbed very early in the morning for checking

some sales figures, just because technology and prices make it possible.

Organizations will fast need to work out the best practices here.

And, finally, the communications service providers will play a major role in

this transition. I know a person who quit his company because his boss refused

to believe that Internet in his housing complex was erratic, and would shout at

him every now and then for not responding to mails. The demand for connectivity,

whether a person is working from office or home or while driving, will go up.

The demand for flexibility in enterprise and public networks will go up.

One thing is for sure. The massive growth that we see in this year's Top 20

survey-of notebooks, PDAs, software, external storage devices mobile phones

and so on-is going to continue for the next few years. Those who start gearing

up to adapt their work and life style will benefit.

The author is Editor of Dataquest IBRAHIM

AHMAD